ASFS Student Paper Awards

NB: ALL required materials are due by the deadline and NO exceptions will be made.

The ASFS invites current undergraduate and graduate to submit a paper for the William Whit (undergraduate) and Alex McIntosh (graduate) prizes, respectively. These awards recognize students’ contributions to the field of food studies. There will be one award each for an undergraduate student paper and a graduate student paper. ASFS welcomes submissions on a wide range of issues relating to food, society and culture, and from the diverse disciplinary and trans-disciplinary fields that ASFS encompasses. The author of each award-winning paper will receive:

$500

payment of annual membership and conference fees to be applied to the following year if student is not attending in the current year

a free banquet ticket for the coming year’s annual meeting or the following year’s if a ticket has already been purchased or the student is not attending the conference in the current year; and

the opportunity to present prize-winning papers at an ASFS/AFHVS conference. Winners who wish to present the year they receive their award must have submitted a conference abstract in that same year.

Please note

Authors are highly encouraged to simultaneously submit an abstract to the ASFS/AFHVS conference by the conference deadline. Conference organizers cannot add your paper to an already completed program; you MUST submit an abstract by the deadline.

Prize winning papers may be presented at an ASFS/AFHVS conference within two years of award. Those prize winners who submit a conference abstract in the subsequent two years, should indicate their award status (year and name of award) with the abstract.

Prize winners may also postpone their registration and banquet ticket use for one year following the award.

Submission Guidelines and Conditions of Award

Eligible entries must

have been written for a course or research project directed by a faculty member at an academic institution or research institute; (NOT a dissertation or MA thesis chapter UNLESS it was written as a separate paper for a specific course)

have been completed within one year prior to submission date (no earlier than the previous February);

be authored by a single student; and

be submitted via email with ALL required documents as separate and attached documents:

Supervising professor’s letter must be on letterhead and signed (pdf scans are more than fine) and state: the name of the student, the course, the term/dates the course was taught and the paper written plus a statement testifying to single-handed authorship and veracity of information and data (please scan the signed letter or use an electronic signature and attach). There is no need for an extended letter.

The STUDENT must submit all documents by the deadline. Do NOT ask your supervising professor to submit his/her letter separately.

Format

Submit each document as a separate PDF; do NOT put them all in one PDF.

Do NOT: put the author’s name on the body of the paper

Do: put the title of the paper on each page

Style & format: APA, MLA, Chicago

Word count: up to 5,000 words, excluding references and notes. Provide a word count on the cover sheet

Text: double-space and include references and bibliographic information

Margins: 1 inch top, bottom, left, right

Numbering: bottom center of each page Justification: left

Font style: use a serif font (such as Palatino, Times, Times New Roman, or Century Schoolbook), NOT a sans serif font (such as Arial, Geneva, or Verdana)

Font size: 12 point

For ALL submissions: make sure your document info does NOT have your name embedded the document information

Cover Sheet (separate from your paper) MUST include

Submission for (check one):

___ Graduate Prize
___ Undergraduate Prize

Date of submission:
Title of paper:
Word count (excluding notes and references):

Author’s name:

Address:
Email address:

School attended when paper was written:
Degree Program (BA, MA, PhD):
Department, course title, term (fall/winter/spring/summer and year) for which paper was written:
DATE (m/d/y) Written: :
Year Written:
Professor/Advisor for whom paper was written:
Professor/Advisor’s email address and phone number:

Evaluation Criteria (up to 10 points for each)

Originality and Contribution to the field of food studies: to what extent does this paper expand our knowledge of food, culture, and social life? How original is its approach to analyzing its topic?

Application of appropriate methods: Has the author used the best methods for this particular issue? Does the paper illustrate a command of a particular form of analysis? (We encourage interdisciplinary work, so this is a good place to evaluate the innovativeness of the author’s approach).

Clarity and organization of the data: Does the paper present its evidence in a coherent fashion?

Quality of writing: How well does the paper convey a story and speak to a broad audience. In particular, we want to honor papers that are readable and speak across disciplines.

Theoretical sense: To what extent does the paper use a recognizable framework? Does the paper use theory synthetically without heavy reliance on quotes and excessive jargon?

Not eligible

Videos and other non-print formats

Late submissions

Submissions without faculty letter of verification and submission sheet

Papers submitted to AFHVS (and vice versa). (ASFS reserves the right to refer papers to AFHVS.)

Papers that do not fit the criteria specified

Submission Instructions

Submit an electronic version of the paper, which does not include personally identifying information, along with the submission cover sheet and electronic letter from the primary supervising professor to: Riki Saltzman. Dr. Saltzman will ensure that anonymous copies of the paper are sent to the Adjudication Committee. Please contactRiki Saltzman, Adjudication Committee Chair, for more information.